Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

I listened very intently the noble Lord’s remarks. Unfortunately I was unable to take part on Second Reading, but the purpose of the Grand Committee is to look at the Bill clause by clause, in view of what was said in that debate, and to see whether there are glaring omissions or mistakes or too much laxity or control. That is the purpose of the amendments. It is all very well for the noble Lord to say that it is like ringing a call centre; if people had to deal with these matters through call centres, it would be like having a huge basket of goodies. Can you imagine how many of them would persevere right through to the end? I reckon it would be something like 1 per cent. It is unfair of the noble Lord to say that we have been around this course once and that now we are just picking at it. We are not picking at it; we want a National Consumer Council; the consumer is king and must be supported. But an awful lot is done that is wrong in the consumer field, and we want to make the best possible Bill for the protection of the consumer. When you have something as woolly as this, you have to try to tidy it up, and that is the purpose of our interventions.